Cebu City Councilor and South District Rep.-elect Eduardo Rama on Thursday vowed to work for the passage of the “Freedom of Information (FOI) Ordinance” before their term as members of the local legislative body ends on June 30.
“Wa man tay problema (We don’t have a problem with that). The ordinance is on its way to the third and final reading,” Rama told the Philippine News Agency in a phone interview.
Rama’s remark came in reaction to the appeal of the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC), an organization of media outfits in Cebu, to the current city council here to pass the FOI ordinance.
The call was coursed through him, being its proponent and owing to his engagement with the members of the local media.
In a statement, the CCPC, through its executive director Pachico Seares, said the proposed measure seeks to provide a “local mechanism” in the enforcement of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 2 issued on July 23, 2016 that allows full disclosure and transparency in government offices.
“The proposed ordinance went through the processes of legislation, mostly way back in the last quarter of 2019, such as committee review, public hearing, and en banc discussion,” the CCPC said.
Rama admitted having attended a dialogue with the Cebu news media in a meeting by the CCPC.
The proposed ordinance was already on the agenda for the third reading, after which it would have gone to the city mayor for approval.
However, Rama said the work on the passage of the FOI ordinance was stalled due to change in the administration as well as a series of crises that struck the city.
“There were some points that need to have a legal opinion from the Cebu City Legal Office. Due to a change in the administration, there were also changes in the legal office. But hopefully we can do it now. We’ll work on it,” Rama said.
The CCPC is pushing for a localized mechanism for “formal request for a document (which) shall be required only when it is considered an exception by City Hall but disputed by the requesting party”.
“In other words, the FOI ordinance shall not delay (the) release of information otherwise readily available. In fact, as a best practice, a document in which the public clearly has the right to know and is not an exception shall be unilaterally released through the City P.I.O.’s (Public information Office) news outlets. Quick access is crucial to news media,” the group added. (PNA)
